This invention relates to a process and an apparatus for the production of an aerated dessert article, more particularly a mousse or an article of ice confectionery containing flakes of crispy composition within its mass.
In the field of articles of ice confectionery, whether in the form of block portions, such as gateaux or containers, or in the form of individual portions, such as stick ices, ice lollies, cones, rolls, tubs and the like, there are articles containing flakes of chocolate distributed within the ice cream mass.
With a view to producing new textures, consumers have been offered articles of ice confectionery containing thin layers of crispy material to provide them with a flaky texture.
Thus, according to European Patent Application No. 322 469, such articles as flaky stick ices or cones are produced by successive formation of layers of ice cream and thin layers of chocolate by partial freezing of the ice cream at its periphery, removal of the central, still liquid part under suction, spraying of chocolate into the cavity thus formed and filling of the central part with ice cream. Because of production constraints, the articles obtained contain only a relatively small number of thin, crispy, longitudinal layers continuous in revolution.
According to European Patent Application No. 221 757, ice cream cones or stick ices containing thin chocolate chips within their mass are produced by forming longitudinal grooves in a vertically extruded strand of ice cream by means of deflectors and filling the grooves thus formed with chocolate, the veins of chocolate which solidify on contact with the ice cream breaking randomly into chips when the strand is folded double to fill the mould. However, this process is attended by the disadvantage that, because they are cooled from outside on contact with the ice cream, the deflectors in the form of chocolate feed tubes can become blocked by solidification of the chocolate inside the tubes.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 2,190,226, more particularly the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, chocolate is introduced by spraying through an annular nozzle into the interstices between veins of ice cream produced by extrusion through a ring-shaped nozzle provided with radially arranged slot dies, the whole is made to converge by gravity into a vertical flow in a funnel and is then discharged under pressure into an elbow tube which produces flakes of chocolate uniformly distributed within the ice cream mass. The object of this arrangement is to solidify the chocolate in the form of thin separate particles on contact with the ice cream and to mix these particles uniformly with the mass of ice cream.
These last two processes do not provide the required result. This is because the texture obtained is not the same as that which would be obtained if the thin layers of chocolate were to form substantially continuous flakes. It has in effect been found that it was a really pleasant sensation to chew through thin, contrasting and clearly discernible layers of soft material and crispy material.